Happy May the 4th, or National Star Wars Day (“may the fourth be with you”), when we all can turn our attention away from the mundanity of our lives to take in a bunch of colorful oddities dressed in high-concept, otherworldly couture parading among the stars.
I’m talking, of course, about the Met Gala. The annual fundraiser/fashion event returns tonight to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the theme “Costume Art,” which — aside from seeming to apply to every Met Gala dress code — leaves a lot of conceptual space for attendees to get crazy with it. The gala is expected to draw some of the biggest celebrities in the world, including this year’s co-chairs: Beyoncé, Venus Williams, Nicole Kidman and fashion magnate Anna Wintour.
One person who will not be attending the gala is Mayor Zohran Mamdani, breaking a decades-long mayoral tradition that goes all the way back to Michael Bloomberg in 2002. The mayor told Hell Gate he intends to keep his focus on “affordability and making the most expensive city in the United States affordable.”
It’s hardly a surprise that Mamdani would want to avoid being seen rubbing shoulders with the same wealthy elites he built his campaign around taxing. It’s difficult to sell “the people’s mayor” from the top of the red carpet.
Of course, it may just be because the mayor is tired from his long bike ride yesterday. Sunday marked the annual TD Five Boro Bike Tour, in which tens of thousands of cyclists rode along car-free streets through all five boroughs. Mamdani became the first mayor in the event’s nearly 50-year history to join the tour, riding all 40 miles with the rest of the crowd.
For these kinds of publicity events, it really helps to be only 34 years old.
Grace Gray Faison, one of the iconic matrons of Brooklyn Heights, passed away on April 26 at the age of 101, and with her a host of memories of an earlier era.
UPS topped the list of businesses most often caught obstructing bus lanes.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation was awarded $450,000 from the New York Power Authority to establish a new workforce training program focused on maintaining and repairing EV charging infrastructure.
Anyone who donates blood at the New York Blood Center between May 9 and June 30 will receive a box of Girl Scout cookies as a token of appreciation.
Eleanor Schiano, a Community Board 10 member who died in November 2025, was honored through a neighborhood spring cleanup on Third Avenue in Bay Ridge on April 25.
Open Squash, a nonprofit that aims to make the sport “affordable and accessible for everyone,” is set to open a new squash center on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg in early 2027.
Our World In Photos
Photo: Lee Jin-man/AP
SEOUL — ‘May the fourth be with you’ is celebrated all over the world, but ‘May the fifth be with you’ is still the favorite of whiskey lovers: Members of the 501st Legion Korean Garrison dressed as Star Wars characters parade to mark Star Wars Day, in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, May 4, 2026.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
Advertisement
More Like Dragonball $
People associate anime & manga with cartoons and comics. But they should be thinking of dollar signs. The global market’s worth $37B, projected to hit $60B by 2030. Which makes TOKYOPOP’s first investment opportunity for outside investors all the more exciting. TOKYOPOP helped bring anime & manga to the West ~30 years ago, becoming a $15M annual revenue business. Now, they’re scaling toward $50M in targeted 2030 revenue.
This is a paid advertisement for TokyoPop Regulation CF offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.tokyopop.com/
New mural installed at residential development One Sunset
Work is well underway for a massive mural that will be at the new residential development One Sunset. Photo: Marino
A massive mural is being installed at a new residential development, One Sunset, in Sunset Park. Sunset Park-based artist Iliana Emilia García was selected to create the mural that pays homage to the area, honoring unique aspects that make the neighborhood vibrant.
The piece is designed as a tribute to Sunset Park, drawing inspiration from the area’s cultural diversity and layered identity. It will bring a hyperlocal artistic voice into a new development that looks to reflect and serve the existing community.
The PREMIUM tag indicates articles that come with extra photographs or special coverage. Thinking of a subscription? Try us out with a day pass for just 99 cents. No long-term commitment for a subscription.
The Mini
Our solver finished in 47 seconds. Can you beat it?
Cartoon Sketchbook
By Bruce Plante
For the Road
Give your opinion: The city Department of Transportation is asking for public input on where to locate its planned new secure bike storage lockers. In the feedback portal, New Yorkers can suggest locations on a map and share what types of bicycles they would like to store and for how long, as well as any preferred amenities, like battery charging, tire pumps or repair stations. Learn more.
Happy Birthday to six-time major golf champion Rory McIlroy!
On This Day in 1906, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The basketball enthusiasts of the Public Schools Athletic League are looking forward with interest to the game at the Twenty-second Regiment Armory tomorrow afternoon, which will decide the junior and senior championship of Greater New York.”
Got a tip? Send it in to [email protected].